If this is your first visit, please click the Sign Up now button to begin the process of creating your account so you can begin posting on our forums! The Sign Up
process will only take up about a minute of two of your time.

What "dumb" things have you done in relation to R.C.?

We've all done some stupid things at one point or another, so lets here 'em! I've got quite the list:

-Painted a body, was looking good! Time for the decals. It wasn't until i was almost done putting them on that i realized i never took the overspray film off.
-Was working on my Savage X. Put a small piece of paper towel in the carb to keep debris out. Got everything put back together, and couldn't for the life of me figure out why i was having problems starting it. Well, i put the air cleaner back on before i removed the paper towel and didnt notice.
-Trying to start my Savage, forgot to take the plug off the stinger on the pipe. I keep one on there so there is no chance of leaking in the house. Talk about a flooded engine....
-Shorted out a 3s TP lipo soldering on a Deans connection. Was in a hurry, not paying attention like i should have.
-Bumped the throttle stick on my GP Eagle 580 while i was sitting right in front of it. That was quite the gash. Those APC props sure are sharp.
There's more, lol, a bit more. Let's hear some of your guys' stuff first so i don't feel so bad.

RE: What

Dumbest thing I've ever done was buy a HPI Brama 10b (seriously that is probably the crappiest RC ever made). Ended up throwing the RC in the trash can it was that worthless. Only thing kept off it was the wing mount, rims, and esc...

one thing that hurt real bad was I was recalibrating an ESC on mt pede 4X4, and kinda mixed up the order so the sucker went full throttle, the tire hit me, and ripped a few layers of skin off my hand, and arm. Thing was it was summer, and hot as hell outside so I started sweating, and the salt in the sweat really caused some pain(more so than the actual friction burning of the skin off)

finished assembling a RC had it on my bed went to test if I there was any binding for the servo's forgot to turn the transmitter on (was AM) sucker drove off the bed full throttle clipping a cabinet corner, and broke an arm...

when I was trying out my savage X that I got used I put the warmer in pulled the cord the thing went flying WOT flipped, and completely destroyed my glow plug warmer when it skid 25-30 feet on its shell with it still coneccted. Took engine out of it, and replaced with a new one after that as the sucker had to have some nasty air leaks cause even with the carb fully closed with no idle gap even it was reving to high hell. Other people told me that engine was extremely problematic later on when I mentioned it, and notorious for air leaks. Real reason I was upset was I really liked that glow plug warmer as it had built in voltage gauge and they stopped selling the model as its replacement from the same manufacturer had no gauge

With great speed comes greater repair bills.
Click on My models to see some of what I own. Eventually will add the rest

RE: What

I got one. But it's what my buddy did while I was up on the drivers stand. We just drove almost 2 hrs to a track. My buddy just did a
Few practice laps with his losi scte truck. Pulled the truck off the track and started talk n to me. What he didn't realize was, that
He tap the reverse on his tx and coasted his truck in the pond that was directly behind the stand that they us for Rc boats.
Totaly submerged his hole truck while it was on. Talk about a wast of a day. And a truck. OOPS!!

RE: What

These are great!

1. Put the front diff facing the opposite direction on my Hyper 7. Everything fit perfectly...did not even think of it.
2. Put air filter oil in the Mac*28 instead of after-run-oil. I put a lot too as the nipple hole is much larger. Cleaned it out best I could but that sucker ran rich as hell for a few tanks.
3. Could not start my son's buggy in his first race's 2'nd qualifier only to find out the tank was empty.

RE: What

well ive doen heapse of Dumb things....

but the ones I have done accedently

Painted a body with Tamiya plastic paint (hobby shop has now sepperated the paints to advoide confusion)
My first nitro I ranout of range at full throttle.... straight into a curb
linked the battery to the BEC output for a LED kit.... Smoked the ESC
Turned of controller for my drift car & it drove off and it scratched out kitchen bench top
Crashed head on with a mates car, it destroyed both cars front suspension
Used my foot to stop a nitro revo... my ankle swelled up
Picked up a nirto touring car by the exhaust.... it was so hot it just sliped out from my hand and burnt all my fingers

but my all time best.... when I was about 10, I built a Nitro boat that used a above water propeller much like a swamp boat. I was so proud of it so I took it to school for show and tell. during the day I was playing around with it, Winding up the propeller on the starterspring and letting it go.....

I wound it up to much and the spring came off the propella and straight through my finger under extreeme tension.
I had to hold the spring so it wouldent rip a chunk of my skin out while the teacher had to slowly turn the boat over & over & over to unwind the spring. funny stuff because the boat was a good 14" long, once the tension was wound out, I had to un hook my skin much like a fish hook.
there was blood everywhere... good thing I painted it red lol (back then my blood cloting time was 11min) so u can imaging the mess

RE: What

What "dumb" things have you done in relation to R.C.? Getting into rc. Ive tried starting nitro's with no fuel, dead igniter/no igniter and a disconnected fuel line, you can imagine the fuel every where from priming it with the line disconnected lol. Just a couple days ago I was rebuilding my ofna nexx 8t after cleaning it and after I finally got it mostly back together I realized I forgot the diff shims, take it all back apart lol. I know there are plenty of other's but those are the first I thought of.

RE: What

ORIGINAL: discgolfer72
1st dumb thing was to buy a traxxas bandit
2nd dumb thing was to buy a electtrix circuit

if you mean things i did to my self there are to many to name but yesterday while trimming a body with an exact o i slipped and jabbed my hand and nicked a vein in my hand

both those are still way better than the brama 10b(and cheaper) which would break its chassis in half on its stock brushed power on flat paved surfaces(I mean literally the 4 tires never left the earth), had very cheap plastic bevel gears(only gear that was plastic), half plastic half metal diff out drives(what a few ppl that had it I talked to broke), and it was so fast I could pass it up walking slowly... BTW Being serious cracked 2 chassis's exactly the same way before I chucked it

With great speed comes greater repair bills.
Click on My models to see some of what I own. Eventually will add the rest

RE: What

Early in my flying career, I adjusted the throws on rudder on a Sig Kadet 40 trainer, and didn't visually re-center the rudder. After launch, with moderate wind, the plane started flying in circles and I got disoriented. Plane got lost over the trees and ended up flying into the side of someone's home. I gave up RC for about 15 years for fear that I might end up really hurting someone.

didn't do a full pre-flight on my biplane because talking to another pilot while getting ready to fly. Didn't notice that I had the radio setup for a different plane. Took off with reversed aileron throws, didn't recover.

During radio check, 1) neglected to set Throttle Hold AND 2) didn't fasten the EDF F-16 to anything.... THEN accidentally droped the radio while re-extending the antenna.
Radio went to full throttle, and EDF jet shot across the parking lot into the curb, totally destroying the nose, intake and front landing gear.

-

Note that all of these were pre-flight mistakes that could have been easily avoided by some pretty simple steps.
Hopefully. I have learned to be more careful and methodical

RE: What

The other weekend I forgot to pull the antenna on a fm radio. I was flying a Great Planes Super Chipmunk. It rolled around and down it went. To my dismay a small tree caught the airplane and two small holes were in the wing . That thing should of been shredded !

RE: What

I was replacing both diffs with hardened gears. After paying careful attention to which side of the case the ring gear was on, I inevitably still managed to install the front gears backwards. What a waste of time...

RE: What

a tamiya rough rider cut the end of my finger off.
i forgot to plug in my spektrum transmitter Ariel on a plane. it landed ok lol
while holding my 1/8th brushless conversion it went full speed and i have lost most of the movement in my thumb.
while trying to sell a old rc car it went off into the distance and i lost the sale i later found out i had forgotten to put a screw on the speed control servo horn.

RE: What

A few years ago I was flying an ultra sport 1000 I had built myself. Modified the ailerons, rudder, and elevator in both length and for maximum throws. On high rates it was a handfull to fly , but truly fun. Roll rate was incredible, flying level pull back the elevator and it instantly went verticle. After probably 50 flights or so, I had just fueled the plane, took off and after a few minutes of sane flying it was time for some insane flying. Well needless to say the battery pack ripped loose from the plane exiting the fuse during a high G manuver. Watched the battery pack fall to the ground ....but the plane kept right on flying at wide open throttle in a slight right hand banking turn maintaining about 300ft of altitude.....with almost a full tank of fuel it could maintain flight for 20 minutes......So here I am on the ground watching my plane tearing up the sky just going round and round.....this was all good until the wind started to blow it downrange towards some homes about 3/4 of a mile away.....It was like crap (wanted to use the other word) what should I do.....Well now its chase time....started making a run for the truck get in no keys dang it (wanted to use the other word) they're laying back at the pickinic table...crap (again wanted the other word)....get keys hop in the truck and and the chase is on....by now its loosing altitude with every circle and getting blown towards the homes that are downwind and man am I getting nervous....just can't wait for this thing to go plowing into someones home....So I'm burning down the road in my truck, I'm about 1/2 mile away from the plane trying to drive, watch the plane, buckle my seatbealt,......when the plane crosses the highway about 8ft above the ground and thats the last I see of it, and I'm thinking good now it's low enough and there's alot of trees in the area it was at. I drive to where I think it went down.....no can find lol.....look for hours until dark, go back the next day, still no can find. Searched trees in the wooded area, got permission from home owners to look in their yards, no can find. Everyday waited for a phone call from one touqued off homeowner with a bill for all the damages my plane had done to his home.... thank God no call came. So I just ended up writing the plane off as a total loss as time went on. This all happened in the spring. Well now let's jump to fall Nov 1st to be truly accurate deer hunting season is coming in 14 days and I'm going to set up my blind, this is the same area where I thought my plane went down. I'm walking the trail towards the area where I plan on hunting and catch something white out if the corner of my eye.....its my plane, in honest to God perfect condition, other than the hole where the battery exited the fuse. The motor was a little stiff from being in the elements other than that it was like someone put it there and left it (some new bearings for the engine...a little glue ,balsa wood, and covering, and it is good as new)

RE: What

I fly mostly gas. da 50 on a gp 330 extra & 1.20 sig mayhem with dle 20cc. I got a couple of electrics. I was flying the gp electrostick, while sitting in a a lawnchair. I have flapperons & spoilerons programmed in but have not messed with it enough to have them dialed in. After 10-12 minute flight > i stood up out of the chair to land plane. I unknowningly hit the flap swith to spoileron getting up out of lawnchair. Plane nosed over and smashed into the ground before i figured out what happened. Thats got to rate up there pretty high for brain farts.

RE: What

The dumbest (and most fun) thing I have done in relation to R/C is get involved in the hobby. In the past 25 years I've had (and still have most) over 150 cars, a dozen planes, half dozen helis, half dozen motorcycles, and a dozen large scale gas boats. I could have bought another house with what I've spent! With my obsessive compulsive personality, things can spiral out of control rather quickly when a hobby turns into a passion.

RE: What

ORIGINAL: swiftkick1

A few years ago I was flying an ultra sport 1000 I had built myself. Modified the ailerons, rudder, and elevator in both length and for maximum throws. On high rates it was a handfull to fly , but truly fun. Roll rate was incredible, flying level pull back the elevator and it instantly went verticle. After probably 50 flights or so, I had just fueled the plane, took off and after a few minutes of sane flying it was time for some insane flying. Well needless to say the battery pack ripped loose from the plane exiting the fuse during a high G manuver. Watched the battery pack fall to the ground ....but the plane kept right on flying at wide open throttle in a slight right hand banking turn maintaining about 300ft of altitude.....with almost a full tank of fuel it could maintain flight for 20 minutes......So here I am on the ground watching my plane tearing up the sky just going round and round.....this was all good until the wind started to blow it downrange towards some homes about 3/4 of a mile away.....It was like crap (wanted to use the other word) what should I do.....Well now its chase time....started making a run for the truck get in no keys dang it (wanted to use the other word) they're laying back at the pickinic table...crap (again wanted the other word)....get keys hop in the truck and and the chase is on....by now its loosing altitude with every circle and getting blown towards the homes that are downwind and man am I getting nervous....just can't wait for this thing to go plowing into someones home....So I'm burning down the road in my truck, I'm about 1/2 mile away from the plane trying to drive, watch the plane, buckle my seatbealt,......when the plane crosses the highway about 8ft above the ground and thats the last I see of it, and I'm thinking good now it's low enough and there's alot of trees in the area it was at. I drive to where I think it went down.....no can find lol.....look for hours until dark, go back the next day, still no can find. Searched trees in the wooded area, got permission from home owners to look in their yards, no can find. Everyday waited for a phone call from one touqued off homeowner with a bill for all the damages my plane had done to his home.... thank God no call came. So I just ended up writing the plane off as a total loss as time went on. This all happened in the spring. Well now let's jump to fall Nov 1st to be truly accurate deer hunting season is coming in 14 days and I'm going to set up my blind, this is the same area where I thought my plane went down. I'm walking the trail towards the area where I plan on hunting and catch something white out if the corner of my eye.....its my plane, in honest to God perfect condition, other than the hole where the battery exited the fuse. The motor was a little stiff from being in the elements other than that it was like someone put it there and left it (some new bearings for the engine...a little glue ,balsa wood, and covering, and it is good as new)

That is one crazy story, i had to lol a few times though. Crazy you got it back.

RE: What

ORIGINAL: swiftkick1

A few years ago I was flying an ultra sport 1000 I had built myself. Modified the ailerons, rudder, and elevator in both length and for maximum throws. On high rates it was a handfull to fly , but truly fun. Roll rate was incredible, flying level pull back the elevator and it instantly went verticle. After probably 50 flights or so, I had just fueled the plane, took off and after a few minutes of sane flying it was time for some insane flying. Well needless to say the battery pack ripped loose from the plane exiting the fuse during a high G manuver. Watched the battery pack fall to the ground ....but the plane kept right on flying at wide open throttle in a slight right hand banking turn maintaining about 300ft of altitude.....with almost a full tank of fuel it could maintain flight for 20 minutes......So here I am on the ground watching my plane tearing up the sky just going round and round.....this was all good until the wind started to blow it downrange towards some homes about 3/4 of a mile away.....It was like crap (wanted to use the other word) what should I do.....Well now its chase time....started making a run for the truck get in no keys dang it (wanted to use the other word) they're laying back at the pickinic table...crap (again wanted the other word)....get keys hop in the truck and and the chase is on....by now its loosing altitude with every circle and getting blown towards the homes that are downwind and man am I getting nervous....just can't wait for this thing to go plowing into someones home....So I'm burning down the road in my truck, I'm about 1/2 mile away from the plane trying to drive, watch the plane, buckle my seatbealt,......when the plane crosses the highway about 8ft above the ground and thats the last I see of it, and I'm thinking good now it's low enough and there's alot of trees in the area it was at. I drive to where I think it went down.....no can find lol.....look for hours until dark, go back the next day, still no can find. Searched trees in the wooded area, got permission from home owners to look in their yards, no can find. Everyday waited for a phone call from one touqued off homeowner with a bill for all the damages my plane had done to his home.... thank God no call came. So I just ended up writing the plane off as a total loss as time went on. This all happened in the spring. Well now let's jump to fall Nov 1st to be truly accurate deer hunting season is coming in 14 days and I'm going to set up my blind, this is the same area where I thought my plane went down. I'm walking the trail towards the area where I plan on hunting and catch something white out if the corner of my eye.....its my plane, in honest to God perfect condition, other than the hole where the battery exited the fuse. The motor was a little stiff from being in the elements other than that it was like someone put it there and left it (some new bearings for the engine...a little glue ,balsa wood, and covering, and it is good as new)